Link.
.
(more)
Friday 25 September 2009
Tuesday 22 September 2009
A New Handbook of Political Science - Chapter 2
Politca Science: The History of the Discipline
by Gabriel A. Almond
Pages 50 - 96
What has improved in political science scholarship over the years is our qualitative knowledge of the properties of political institutions and the criteria we use in evaluating them
The "Chicago blip" in the interwar years introducing organised empirical research programmes, emphasising psychological and sociological interpretations of politics, and demonstrating the value of quantification.
Post war "blip" - behavioural revolution, much bigger, improvements in the more traditional sub-disciplines and professionalisation (in the establishment of multi-membered, meritocratically recruited, relatively non-heirarchic departments).
Third blip, deductive and mathematical methods, economic models in the "rational choice/methodological individualist" approach.
Four opposing views of the history of political science, two of which challenge its scientific character - the "anti-science" position as well as the "post-science" position. Marxism and rational choice school challenge the discipline's eclecticism in facour of a purist, heirarchical monism {unity in a given field of enquiry}.
Straussians express the anti-science view, that the introduction of scientific methodology is a harmful illusion - basic truths are to be uncovered by direct colloquy with the classics and old texts.
"Post-empirical", "post-behavioural" approach takes a deconstructive view; there is a pluralism of disciplinary identities, each with its own view of disciplinary history.
Marxist, neo-Marxist and "critical theory" approaches argue that social science (there can be no separable political science) consists of the unfalsifiable truths discovered in the works of Marx and elaborated by his associates and followers. The science of society reveals itself in its own dialectical development.
Rational choice theory rejects electicism aiming for a formal heirarchical model of political science applicable to the whole of social reality.
This may be useful in answering whether political science is indeed a discipline, or something else, and what comparative politics is. Tie in with the idea of metaphysical "natural kinds".
Almond assumes that political science is on the "cloud" side of Karl Popper's (1972) clouds and clocks continuum. The regularities it discovers are probabilistic rather than law-like and many of them have relatively short half-lives.
Greek and Roman scholarship - a brief historical overview
Begins with Plato (428 - 348 BCE) - Republic, Statesman and Laws are the first classics
Plato sets out propositions about justice, political virtue, athe varieties of polity and their transformation which have survived as political theories.
In the Republic virtue was a key variable. Plato presents his ideal regime based on knowledge and possession of the truth (exemplifying virtue), the other 4 regimes in descending order of virtue:
Timocracy - honour and military glory supplant knowledge and virtue
Oligarchy - wealth replaces honour as the princple of recruitment
Democracy - corruption of oligarchy
Tyranny - corruption of democracy
Later, in Statesman, he distinguishes between the ideal republic and realistic polities. 3 by 2 table, as in, rule of the many, few, or one, by pure or impure versions of each. Six fold classification: democracy, oclochracy (mob rule); aristocracy, oligarchy; monarchy, tyranny.
In The Laws, presented the first version of the Mixed Constitution. This obtains stability by combining principles often in conflict: monarchic principle of wisdom and virtue with democratic principle of freedom. This is the first explanatory theory in political science in which institutions, attitudes and ideas are related to process and performance. It is the ancestor of separation of powers theory.
(54)
Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE) formed his own Lyceum after being a pupil of Plato. His methods were inductive, empirical and historical (in contrast to idealist and deductive approach of Plato). The Lyceum collected 158 constitutions of Greek city-states, only Athens's survived. The Lectures that make up Politics were based on analysis and interpretations of these.
Where the rich dominate we have oligarchy. Where the poor dominate we have democracy. Where the middle-class dominate we have mixed or constitutional governments. The magistrative, judicial and deliberative organs determine political structures and patterns of recruitment (importance of insitutions).
(55)
Potential criticisms from Dahl and Verba. Not scientific enough. The Aristotelian method consists essentially of a clinical sorting out of specimens, with hypotheses about causes and sequences, but without systematic tests of relationships.
(more)
by Gabriel A. Almond
Pages 50 - 96
What has improved in political science scholarship over the years is our qualitative knowledge of the properties of political institutions and the criteria we use in evaluating them
The "Chicago blip" in the interwar years introducing organised empirical research programmes, emphasising psychological and sociological interpretations of politics, and demonstrating the value of quantification.
Post war "blip" - behavioural revolution, much bigger, improvements in the more traditional sub-disciplines and professionalisation (in the establishment of multi-membered, meritocratically recruited, relatively non-heirarchic departments).
Third blip, deductive and mathematical methods, economic models in the "rational choice/methodological individualist" approach.
Four opposing views of the history of political science, two of which challenge its scientific character - the "anti-science" position as well as the "post-science" position. Marxism and rational choice school challenge the discipline's eclecticism in facour of a purist, heirarchical monism {unity in a given field of enquiry}.
Straussians express the anti-science view, that the introduction of scientific methodology is a harmful illusion - basic truths are to be uncovered by direct colloquy with the classics and old texts.
"Post-empirical", "post-behavioural" approach takes a deconstructive view; there is a pluralism of disciplinary identities, each with its own view of disciplinary history.
Marxist, neo-Marxist and "critical theory" approaches argue that social science (there can be no separable political science) consists of the unfalsifiable truths discovered in the works of Marx and elaborated by his associates and followers. The science of society reveals itself in its own dialectical development.
Rational choice theory rejects electicism aiming for a formal heirarchical model of political science applicable to the whole of social reality.
This may be useful in answering whether political science is indeed a discipline, or something else, and what comparative politics is. Tie in with the idea of metaphysical "natural kinds".
Almond assumes that political science is on the "cloud" side of Karl Popper's (1972) clouds and clocks continuum. The regularities it discovers are probabilistic rather than law-like and many of them have relatively short half-lives.
Greek and Roman scholarship - a brief historical overview
Begins with Plato (428 - 348 BCE) - Republic, Statesman and Laws are the first classics
Plato sets out propositions about justice, political virtue, athe varieties of polity and their transformation which have survived as political theories.
In the Republic virtue was a key variable. Plato presents his ideal regime based on knowledge and possession of the truth (exemplifying virtue), the other 4 regimes in descending order of virtue:
Timocracy - honour and military glory supplant knowledge and virtue
Oligarchy - wealth replaces honour as the princple of recruitment
Democracy - corruption of oligarchy
Tyranny - corruption of democracy
Later, in Statesman, he distinguishes between the ideal republic and realistic polities. 3 by 2 table, as in, rule of the many, few, or one, by pure or impure versions of each. Six fold classification: democracy, oclochracy (mob rule); aristocracy, oligarchy; monarchy, tyranny.
In The Laws, presented the first version of the Mixed Constitution. This obtains stability by combining principles often in conflict: monarchic principle of wisdom and virtue with democratic principle of freedom. This is the first explanatory theory in political science in which institutions, attitudes and ideas are related to process and performance. It is the ancestor of separation of powers theory.
(54)
Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE) formed his own Lyceum after being a pupil of Plato. His methods were inductive, empirical and historical (in contrast to idealist and deductive approach of Plato). The Lyceum collected 158 constitutions of Greek city-states, only Athens's survived. The Lectures that make up Politics were based on analysis and interpretations of these.
Where the rich dominate we have oligarchy. Where the poor dominate we have democracy. Where the middle-class dominate we have mixed or constitutional governments. The magistrative, judicial and deliberative organs determine political structures and patterns of recruitment (importance of insitutions).
(55)
Potential criticisms from Dahl and Verba. Not scientific enough. The Aristotelian method consists essentially of a clinical sorting out of specimens, with hypotheses about causes and sequences, but without systematic tests of relationships.
(more)
Hans-Georg Gadamer. 1960. Truth and Method
Book about philosophical hermenutics (methods of interpretation). Post-positivist approach to social science.
Notes etc... (more)
Notes etc... (more)
Monday 21 September 2009
A New Handbook of Political Science - Chapter 1
1. Political Science: The Discipline
pp 3 - 49
Robert E. Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann
(3)
The New Handbook (TNH) provides striking evidence of the professional maturation of political science as a discipline. This involves increasing differentiation with more subdiscipline sophistication, and more sub-specialities. And increasing integration across the separate subdisciplines.
(4)
The nature of a discpline - defining the word
OED - a branch of instruction, system of rules for conduct etc.
To boil down this chapter's approach: a branch of instruction (subject) with a system of rules or methodological consistencies. Involves a sense of standards of good conduct within the discipline.
(5)
Other imagery, an art, a craft, a calling, a vocation (Weber, 1919)
A discipline's traditions provide/create a framework that focusses research and facilitates corroboration
A "discipline is a classic instance of a useful self-binding mechanism" and an organisation with its chiefs, indians, Young Turks and greybeards.
(6)
The term profession indicates a certain attitude towards one's work. "A profession is a self-organising community, oriented toward certain well-defined tasks or functions. A professional community is characterised by certain self-imposed standards and norms".
Professions involve notions of roles and responsibilities and professional codes of ethics - all professionals are expected to adhere to them faithfully (APSA 1991)
(7)
Disciplines are differentiated from one another in their substantive concerns, and by the methodologies they use. In chapter 35 Alker notes that political science does not have a single big methodological device all its own, the way many other disciplines do. [therefore] Political science is a discipline defined by its substantive concerns.
What is politics?
Politics is best characterised as the "constrained use of social power". The study of politics is the nature and source of those constraints and the techniques for the use of social power within those constraints.
Power, according to Dahl's (1957) old neo-Weberian definition is where: X has power over Y insofar as: (i) X is able to get Y to do something (ii) this is more to X's liking and (iii) which Y would not otherwise have done.
The important distinctions of polical power are that it is the constrained use of social power. It is not through use of physical force.
Lasswell (1950) had a purely distributional approach to politics as "who gets what, when, and how". This view is limiting because it is not super-temporal.
(9)
The several sciences of politics
Minimalist definition of science as "systematic enquiry, building toward an ever more highly-differentiated set of ordered propositions about the empirical world"
A logical positivist might assert science's function is to find a set of "covering laws" so strong that even a single counter example would suffice to falsify them.
The truths of political science are inevitably destined to remain probabilistic in form.
Why couldn't a covering law include a stochastic element?
The subjects of study in politics have an ontological status different from billiard balls, which makes the logical positivists covering law model inappropriate for them.
Two points - those in the rationalist school might try to reduce human behaviour/reaction to a billiard-ball like simplicity/determinism. Secondly, human beings and billard balls may be more similar than at first glance - both have idiosyncracies it is a question of degree and precision. To model the position of a billiard ball after x (7?) bounces, one needs to know the exact location of every particle in the universe... (Not a profound or sincere criticism.)
(Political) conventions and circumstances can change, (in a way that physical laws can not) so the truths uncovered are less universal than those of Newtonian physics. It is necessary to (re)model the circumstances and conventions, in order to make the propositions more ordered and more precise (though not covering law status).
(10)
The maturation of the profession
The behavioural revolution took place in the 60s, and early behavioural revolutionaries were devoted to dismissing the formalisms of politics - institutions, organisational charts, constitutional myths and legal fictions - as pure sham.
(11)
A generation later, Rational Choice modellers sought initially to reduce all politics to the interplay of narrow material self interest, squeezing out principles and values, and history and institutions.
(An example of a famous victory of the rational choice school - Popkin et al, 1976)
We are now in a period of rapprochement led by the rise of the "new-institutionalism". Political scientists no longer think in the eith/or term of agency or structure, interests or institutions as the driving forces: now, virtually all serious students of the discipline woud say it is a matter of a judicious blend of both (see chapters 5, 6, 26, 28, 29).
Now it is about analysing behaviour in the contexts of institutional factors and opportunity structures (see chapters 9 and 10).
(12)
More examples of how rapprochement has been reached on page 12. Basically it's a compromise between science and history.
(13)
There is no false consensus on foundational issues.
"A diverse and dispersed community of scholars" - specialisation suggests a loose collection of sub-disciplines rather than a single unified discipline
Easier to have a consensus on foundational issues in sciences that are governed by the "one true theory of science (logical positivism or its many alternatives), than in terms of the one true theory of society (structural-functionalism, systems theory, rational choice or whatever)"
(14)
It is the simple sharing of nuts and bolts - the building blocks of science - that helps consolidate a shared sense of the discipline (Elster 1989).
(15)
Classic texts
A list of most of the usual suspects on page 15.
Footnote referencing Marshall's (1990) In Praise of Sociology which defines the discipline in terms of 10 post war classic texts
(17)
Recurring themes
The contraints in politics (as in - the constrained use of social power) are an important running theme.
There is a renewed recognition of the importance of institutional factors in political life. A renewed appreciation of history and happenstance, rules and regimes as constraining forces in political life. It has long been commonplace in some quarters that "history matters", e.g. Lipset and Rokkan's (1967) notions of "frozen cleavages", Moore's (1966) developmental methods of communism, fascism or parliamentary democracy, Burnham's (1970) theories of critical realignments.
(18)
"Political scientists are once again according a central role to people's beliefs and what lies behind them" (pp. 19). Page 18 has some examples of how this happens. The more deeply nested aspects of social organisation ... socio-economic forces... rational choice scholars relaxing heroic assumptions of complete information and perfect rationality.. "constitution writers do not enjoy an entirely free hand - even those "highest" laws are embedded in some higher-order principles, rules and procedures, albeit of an extra-legal sort"
(21)
New Voices
Postmodernism has made modest inroads in part because its central precepts are cast on such a high theoretical plane (White 1991 - Political Theory and Postmodernism CUP).
(22)
Contemporary political science is decidedly post-positivist. Subjective factors are taken into account.
Bibliometric analysis of the discipline pages 23 - 44
(more)
pp 3 - 49
Robert E. Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann
(3)
The New Handbook (TNH) provides striking evidence of the professional maturation of political science as a discipline. This involves increasing differentiation with more subdiscipline sophistication, and more sub-specialities. And increasing integration across the separate subdisciplines.
(4)
The nature of a discpline - defining the word
OED - a branch of instruction, system of rules for conduct etc.
To boil down this chapter's approach: a branch of instruction (subject) with a system of rules or methodological consistencies. Involves a sense of standards of good conduct within the discipline.
(5)
Other imagery, an art, a craft, a calling, a vocation (Weber, 1919)
A discipline's traditions provide/create a framework that focusses research and facilitates corroboration
A "discipline is a classic instance of a useful self-binding mechanism" and an organisation with its chiefs, indians, Young Turks and greybeards.
(6)
The term profession indicates a certain attitude towards one's work. "A profession is a self-organising community, oriented toward certain well-defined tasks or functions. A professional community is characterised by certain self-imposed standards and norms".
Professions involve notions of roles and responsibilities and professional codes of ethics - all professionals are expected to adhere to them faithfully (APSA 1991)
(7)
Disciplines are differentiated from one another in their substantive concerns, and by the methodologies they use. In chapter 35 Alker notes that political science does not have a single big methodological device all its own, the way many other disciplines do. [therefore] Political science is a discipline defined by its substantive concerns.
What is politics?
Politics is best characterised as the "constrained use of social power". The study of politics is the nature and source of those constraints and the techniques for the use of social power within those constraints.
Power, according to Dahl's (1957) old neo-Weberian definition is where: X has power over Y insofar as: (i) X is able to get Y to do something (ii) this is more to X's liking and (iii) which Y would not otherwise have done.
The important distinctions of polical power are that it is the constrained use of social power. It is not through use of physical force.
Lasswell (1950) had a purely distributional approach to politics as "who gets what, when, and how". This view is limiting because it is not super-temporal.
(9)
The several sciences of politics
Minimalist definition of science as "systematic enquiry, building toward an ever more highly-differentiated set of ordered propositions about the empirical world"
A logical positivist might assert science's function is to find a set of "covering laws" so strong that even a single counter example would suffice to falsify them.
The truths of political science are inevitably destined to remain probabilistic in form.
Why couldn't a covering law include a stochastic element?
The subjects of study in politics have an ontological status different from billiard balls, which makes the logical positivists covering law model inappropriate for them.
Two points - those in the rationalist school might try to reduce human behaviour/reaction to a billiard-ball like simplicity/determinism. Secondly, human beings and billard balls may be more similar than at first glance - both have idiosyncracies it is a question of degree and precision. To model the position of a billiard ball after x (7?) bounces, one needs to know the exact location of every particle in the universe... (Not a profound or sincere criticism.)
(Political) conventions and circumstances can change, (in a way that physical laws can not) so the truths uncovered are less universal than those of Newtonian physics. It is necessary to (re)model the circumstances and conventions, in order to make the propositions more ordered and more precise (though not covering law status).
(10)
The maturation of the profession
The behavioural revolution took place in the 60s, and early behavioural revolutionaries were devoted to dismissing the formalisms of politics - institutions, organisational charts, constitutional myths and legal fictions - as pure sham.
(11)
A generation later, Rational Choice modellers sought initially to reduce all politics to the interplay of narrow material self interest, squeezing out principles and values, and history and institutions.
(An example of a famous victory of the rational choice school - Popkin et al, 1976)
We are now in a period of rapprochement led by the rise of the "new-institutionalism". Political scientists no longer think in the eith/or term of agency or structure, interests or institutions as the driving forces: now, virtually all serious students of the discipline woud say it is a matter of a judicious blend of both (see chapters 5, 6, 26, 28, 29).
Now it is about analysing behaviour in the contexts of institutional factors and opportunity structures (see chapters 9 and 10).
(12)
More examples of how rapprochement has been reached on page 12. Basically it's a compromise between science and history.
(13)
There is no false consensus on foundational issues.
"A diverse and dispersed community of scholars" - specialisation suggests a loose collection of sub-disciplines rather than a single unified discipline
Easier to have a consensus on foundational issues in sciences that are governed by the "one true theory of science (logical positivism or its many alternatives), than in terms of the one true theory of society (structural-functionalism, systems theory, rational choice or whatever)"
(14)
It is the simple sharing of nuts and bolts - the building blocks of science - that helps consolidate a shared sense of the discipline (Elster 1989).
(15)
Classic texts
A list of most of the usual suspects on page 15.
Footnote referencing Marshall's (1990) In Praise of Sociology which defines the discipline in terms of 10 post war classic texts
(17)
Recurring themes
The contraints in politics (as in - the constrained use of social power) are an important running theme.
There is a renewed recognition of the importance of institutional factors in political life. A renewed appreciation of history and happenstance, rules and regimes as constraining forces in political life. It has long been commonplace in some quarters that "history matters", e.g. Lipset and Rokkan's (1967) notions of "frozen cleavages", Moore's (1966) developmental methods of communism, fascism or parliamentary democracy, Burnham's (1970) theories of critical realignments.
(18)
"Political scientists are once again according a central role to people's beliefs and what lies behind them" (pp. 19). Page 18 has some examples of how this happens. The more deeply nested aspects of social organisation ... socio-economic forces... rational choice scholars relaxing heroic assumptions of complete information and perfect rationality.. "constitution writers do not enjoy an entirely free hand - even those "highest" laws are embedded in some higher-order principles, rules and procedures, albeit of an extra-legal sort"
(21)
New Voices
Postmodernism has made modest inroads in part because its central precepts are cast on such a high theoretical plane (White 1991 - Political Theory and Postmodernism CUP).
(22)
Contemporary political science is decidedly post-positivist. Subjective factors are taken into account.
Bibliometric analysis of the discipline pages 23 - 44
(more)
Parliamentary and Electoral Reform
Looking at ways to reform parliament (both houses).
Article (on BBC.co.uk 21/09/09) about comments Greg Dyke made, claiming a 'conspiracy' exists to prevent radical change of the political system. His suggestions include looking at 'ideas such as moving the seat of democracy out of Westminster, a fully elected upper chamber with no whipping system, proportional representation, cutting the number of MPs by half, and reforming their pay and expenses, he added.' (more)
Article (on BBC.co.uk 21/09/09) about comments Greg Dyke made, claiming a 'conspiracy' exists to prevent radical change of the political system. His suggestions include looking at 'ideas such as moving the seat of democracy out of Westminster, a fully elected upper chamber with no whipping system, proportional representation, cutting the number of MPs by half, and reforming their pay and expenses, he added.' (more)
Thursday 10 September 2009
Mill (1846), A System of Logic
Full title: A system of logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, Being a connected view of the principles of evidence and the methods of scientific investigation.
Hard copy:
Books I - III: Folder A, File 3
Full text (PDF) at Google Books
And here is the rest of it. (more)
Hard copy:
Books I - III: Folder A, File 3
Full text (PDF) at Google Books
And here is the rest of it. (more)
Munck (2006), The past and present of comparative politics
Gerardo L. Munck - Working paper
Hard copy: Folder A, File 2
Link to PDF - http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/330.pdf
Notes: (more)
Hard copy: Folder A, File 2
Link to PDF - http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/330.pdf
Notes: (more)
Laitin (2002), Comparative Politics: State of the Subdiscipline
Laitin, David D.(2002), "Comparative Politics: The State of the Subdisicipline," pp. 630-659 in Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner (eds.), Political Science: State of the Discipline (New York: W.W. Norton & Washington, DC: American Political Science Association,)
Hard copy: Folder A, File 2
Notes: (more)
Hard copy: Folder A, File 2
Notes: (more)
Geddes (2003) Paradigms and Sandcastles
Geddes, Barbara. Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics 2003
Hard copy:
Chapter 1: Folder A, File 2 (some pages unreadable)
Google books:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TzZRdrdQJqQC&lpg=PA4&dq=geddes%201993%20paradigms%20and%20sandcastles&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Notes: (more)
Hard copy:
Chapter 1: Folder A, File 2 (some pages unreadable)
Google books:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TzZRdrdQJqQC&lpg=PA4&dq=geddes%201993%20paradigms%20and%20sandcastles&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Notes: (more)
Brown (2005) Comparative Politics: A view from Britain
Brown, Archie “Comparative Politics: A View from Britain” APSA-CP Newsletter of the American Political Science Association Organized Section in Comparative Politics Volume 16, Number 1 (Winter 2005)
Hard Copy: Folder A, File 1
Notes: (more)
Hard Copy: Folder A, File 1
Notes: (more)
Johnson (1997) - Preconception vs. Observation
Johnson, Chalmers (1997) "Preconception vs. observation, or the contributions of rational choice theory and area studies to contemporary political science," PS: Political Science & Politics 30, no. 2 (June).
Notes: (more)
Notes: (more)
Bates (1997) Area Studies and the Discipline
Bates, Robert (1997) "Area studies and the discipline: a useful controversy?" PS: Political Science & Politics, 30 no. 2 (June).
Notes: (more)
Notes: (more)
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Machiavelli, Niccolo. Discourses
Hard Copy: Folder A, File 1
Machiavelli, N. XXXX. Discourses on... .
Machiavelli (XXXX)
Summary: (more)
Machiavelli, N. XXXX. Discourses on... .
Machiavelli (XXXX)
Summary: (more)
Folder A (MT09)
Articles and book sections mainly relating to Comp Gov Introductory course in MT 09
File 1:
Aristotle, Politics, Book 4;
Machiavelli, Discourses, Book 1;
Montiesquieu, Spirit of Laws, Books 3 - 5;
A New handbook of Political Science - Chapter 12 - Comparative Politics, An overview - Peter Mair (1996)
Area Studies and the Discipline, a Useful Controversy? - Robert Bates (1997)
Preconception vs Oberservation, Chalmers Johnson (1997)
Comparative Politics: A view from Britain, Archie Brown, APSA - CP Winter 2005
File 2:
Class handouts for MT09 Week 1
Laitin, David D.(2002), "Comparative Politics: The State of the Subdisicipline,"
de Tocqueville, Alexis. (1863), Democracy in America. Book I
Geddes (2003), Paradigms and Sandcastles. Chapter 1
Munck (?), The Past and Present of Comparative Politics
File 3:
Mill a System of Logic: Book I
Mill a System of Logic: Book II
Mill a System of Logic: Book III
File 4:
Mill a System of Logic: Book IV
Mill a System of Logic: Book V
Mill a System of Logic: Book VI
File 5: (turquoise file)
MT09 - Week 2 - Constitutionalism (reading list) and class handouts
Elster, Jon (2003), Authors and Actors
Ridley, F. F. (1988), ‘There is no British Constitution: a Dangerous Case of the Emperor’s New
Clothes’, Parliamentary Affairs 41:3
Graber, Mark (2006), Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil – especially Introduction
Vile, Maurice (2nd ed 1998), Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers, Ch 1
Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James and Jay, John (new edn 1987), The Federalist Papers: 23-8; 41-4; 47ff.
Michael J. Perry, “What is ‘the Constitution’? (and other Fundamental Questions),” in Larry Alexander, ed., Constitutionalism: Philosophical Foundations (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1998), esp pp. 99-151
File 4:
File 5:
File 6:
(more)
File 1:
Aristotle, Politics, Book 4;
Machiavelli, Discourses, Book 1;
Montiesquieu, Spirit of Laws, Books 3 - 5;
A New handbook of Political Science - Chapter 12 - Comparative Politics, An overview - Peter Mair (1996)
Area Studies and the Discipline, a Useful Controversy? - Robert Bates (1997)
Preconception vs Oberservation, Chalmers Johnson (1997)
Comparative Politics: A view from Britain, Archie Brown, APSA - CP Winter 2005
File 2:
Class handouts for MT09 Week 1
Laitin, David D.(2002), "Comparative Politics: The State of the Subdisicipline,"
de Tocqueville, Alexis. (1863), Democracy in America. Book I
Geddes (2003), Paradigms and Sandcastles. Chapter 1
Munck (?), The Past and Present of Comparative Politics
File 3:
Mill a System of Logic: Book I
Mill a System of Logic: Book II
Mill a System of Logic: Book III
File 4:
Mill a System of Logic: Book IV
Mill a System of Logic: Book V
Mill a System of Logic: Book VI
File 5: (turquoise file)
MT09 - Week 2 - Constitutionalism (reading list) and class handouts
Elster, Jon (2003), Authors and Actors
Ridley, F. F. (1988), ‘There is no British Constitution: a Dangerous Case of the Emperor’s New
Clothes’, Parliamentary Affairs 41:3
Graber, Mark (2006), Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil – especially Introduction
Vile, Maurice (2nd ed 1998), Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers, Ch 1
Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James and Jay, John (new edn 1987), The Federalist Papers: 23-8; 41-4; 47ff.
Michael J. Perry, “What is ‘the Constitution’? (and other Fundamental Questions),” in Larry Alexander, ed., Constitutionalism: Philosophical Foundations (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1998), esp pp. 99-151
File 4:
File 5:
File 6:
(more)
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Goodin, Robert and Klingeman, Hans-Dieter eds (1995), New Handbook of Political Science
Bible for Political Science.
Goodin Robert and Klingeman, Hans-Dieter eds (1995), New Handbook of Political Science
See individual chapter summaries for more details. (more)
Goodin Robert and Klingeman, Hans-Dieter eds (1995), New Handbook of Political Science
See individual chapter summaries for more details. (more)
MT 09 - Course Overview Reading List
Full PDF available here (09/10) or here(08/09)
1. Comparison in Political Science Nancy Bermeo (nancy.bermeo@politics.ox.ac.uk)
2. Constitutions and Constitutionalism Cindy Skach (cindy.skach@politics.ox.ac.uk)
3. Democracy Nancy Bermeo (nancy.bermeo@politics.ox.ac.uk)
4. Democratisation Nancy Bermeo (nancy.bermeo@politics.ox.ac.uk)
5. The State in Comparative Politics Nic Cheeseman (nicholas.cheeseman@politics.ox.ac.uk)
6. Electoral Systems and Representation Ray Duch (raymond.duch@politics.ox.ac.uk)
7. Voting and Elections Nic Cheeseman (nicholas.cheeseman@politics.ox.ac.uk)
8. The Politics of Development Ricardo Soares de Oliveira
(ricardo.soaresdeoliveira@politics.ox.ac.uk)
General Reading
a) Overviews
· Goodin Robert and Klingeman, Hans-Dieter eds (1995), New Handbook of Political Science
· Lane, Jan-Erik and Svante Ersson (2000), The New Institutional Politics: Performance and Outcomes
· Lichbach and Zuckerman, Alan eds (1997), Comparative Politics
· Peters, B Guy (1999), Institutional Theory in Political Science
· Peters, B Guy (1998), Comparative Politics
b) Notable contributions
· Putnam, Robert (1993), Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy
· Rueschemeyer, Dietrich et al (1992), Capitalist Development and Democracy
· Skocpol, Theda (1979), States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Study of France, Russia and China
· Thompson, Michael et al (1999), Cultural Theory as Political Science
· Lijphart, A (1999), Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty -Six Countries (useful for several topics in the course: may be worth buying)
c) Methods and Approaches Readings
· Ragin, Charles C. (1987), The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies
· King, Gary, Keohane, Robert O and Verba, Sidney (1994), Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research
· Peters, B Guy (1998), Comparative Politics: Theory and Methods
· Lichbach, Mark Irving and Zuckerman, Alan S eds (1997), Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure
· Shepsle, Kenneth A and Mark S Bonchek (1997), Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behaviour and Institutions (more)
1. Comparison in Political Science Nancy Bermeo (nancy.bermeo@politics.ox.ac.uk)
2. Constitutions and Constitutionalism Cindy Skach (cindy.skach@politics.ox.ac.uk)
3. Democracy Nancy Bermeo (nancy.bermeo@politics.ox.ac.uk)
4. Democratisation Nancy Bermeo (nancy.bermeo@politics.ox.ac.uk)
5. The State in Comparative Politics Nic Cheeseman (nicholas.cheeseman@politics.ox.ac.uk)
6. Electoral Systems and Representation Ray Duch (raymond.duch@politics.ox.ac.uk)
7. Voting and Elections Nic Cheeseman (nicholas.cheeseman@politics.ox.ac.uk)
8. The Politics of Development Ricardo Soares de Oliveira
(ricardo.soaresdeoliveira@politics.ox.ac.uk)
General Reading
a) Overviews
· Goodin Robert and Klingeman, Hans-Dieter eds (1995), New Handbook of Political Science
· Lane, Jan-Erik and Svante Ersson (2000), The New Institutional Politics: Performance and Outcomes
· Lichbach and Zuckerman, Alan eds (1997), Comparative Politics
· Peters, B Guy (1999), Institutional Theory in Political Science
· Peters, B Guy (1998), Comparative Politics
b) Notable contributions
· Putnam, Robert (1993), Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy
· Rueschemeyer, Dietrich et al (1992), Capitalist Development and Democracy
· Skocpol, Theda (1979), States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Study of France, Russia and China
· Thompson, Michael et al (1999), Cultural Theory as Political Science
· Lijphart, A (1999), Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty -Six Countries (useful for several topics in the course: may be worth buying)
c) Methods and Approaches Readings
· Ragin, Charles C. (1987), The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies
· King, Gary, Keohane, Robert O and Verba, Sidney (1994), Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research
· Peters, B Guy (1998), Comparative Politics: Theory and Methods
· Lichbach, Mark Irving and Zuckerman, Alan S eds (1997), Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure
· Shepsle, Kenneth A and Mark S Bonchek (1997), Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behaviour and Institutions (more)
MT09 Week 1 Reading List
Political Institutions programme - week 1 - Comparison in Political Science
Michaelmas term Week 1. Introduction Week: Comparison in Political Science
Aim of this session: To develop a working understanding of the history, nature and focus of comparative politics
Discussion Topics:
(a) Is comparative politics a method, a sub-field or something else?
(b) What continuities and discontinuities can we identify in the field of comparative politics over time?
(c) Is the scholarship in comparative politics improving ?
(Class handouts available in file 2)
Readings
(a) Early examples
Aristotle. Politics. Book IV, sections 1-12. .
Machiavelli. Discourses. Book I, discourse 2-6
Mill, John Stuart A System ofLogic, Book VI and Book XII
Montesquieu. The Spirit of Laws. Books III -V
Tocqueville, Alexis de Democracy in America
(b) Contemporary commentaries and overviews
Geddes, Barbara. Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics 2003 Chp 1 pp1-26
Munck, Gerardo and Richard Snyder. Passion Craft and Method in Comparative Politics 2007 pp.32-59 and excerpts from the book in “What has Comparative Politics Accomplished?” in APSA-CP Newsletter of the American Political Science Association Organized Section in Comparative Politics vol 15 no2 pp 26-31
Brown, Archie “Comparative Politics: A View from Britain” APSA-CP Newsletter of the American Political Science Association Organized Section in Comparative Politics Volume 16, Number 1 (Winter 2005)
Hardin, Russell, et.al. (2002), 'Wither political science'
Monroe, Kristen Renwick. 2002. ‘Shaking Things Up? Thoughts about the future of political science’, PS Political Science and Politics 35 (2)
Selections by Elinor Ostrom and Suzanne Hoeber Rudolph
Schmitter, Philippe (1993) “Comparative Politics,” pp. 171-77, in Joel Krieger (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).
Mair, Peter (1996)“Comparative Politics: An Overview,” pp. 309-35, in Robert Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (eds.), The New Handbook of Political Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
Laitin, David D.(2002), "Comparative Politics: The State of the Subdisicipline," pp. 630-659 in Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner (eds.), Political Science: State of the Discipline (New York: W.W. Norton & Washington, DC: American Political Science Association,)
King, Desmond (1998) “The Politics of Social Research: Institutionalizing Public Funding Regimes in the US and Britain,” BJPS 28: 415-444.
Mahoney, James and Reuschemeyer, Dietrich.(2003) Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press
Sartori, Giovanni “Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics,” APSR, 64:4:1033-53.
Bates, Robert (1997) "Area studies and the discipline: a useful controversy?" PS: Political Science & Politics, 30 no. 2 (June).
Johnson, Chalmers (1997) "Preconception vs. observation, or the contributions of rational choice theory and area studies to contemporary political science," PS: Political Science & Politics 30, no. 2 (June).
Other useful readings for this week
New Handbook of Political Science (throughout) - esp. Ch 1, 2
King (1991) - On political methodology
Lichbach and Zuckerman (1997) Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure
Carpaso, James (2002), Comparative Politics: Diversity and Coherence
(more)
Michaelmas term Week 1. Introduction Week: Comparison in Political Science
Aim of this session: To develop a working understanding of the history, nature and focus of comparative politics
Discussion Topics:
(a) Is comparative politics a method, a sub-field or something else?
(b) What continuities and discontinuities can we identify in the field of comparative politics over time?
(c) Is the scholarship in comparative politics improving ?
(Class handouts available in file 2)
Readings
(a) Early examples
Aristotle. Politics. Book IV, sections 1-12. .
Machiavelli. Discourses. Book I, discourse 2-6
Mill, John Stuart A System ofLogic, Book VI and Book XII
Montesquieu. The Spirit of Laws. Books III -V
Tocqueville, Alexis de Democracy in America
(b) Contemporary commentaries and overviews
Geddes, Barbara. Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics 2003 Chp 1 pp1-26
Munck, Gerardo and Richard Snyder. Passion Craft and Method in Comparative Politics 2007 pp.32-59 and excerpts from the book in “What has Comparative Politics Accomplished?” in APSA-CP Newsletter of the American Political Science Association Organized Section in Comparative Politics vol 15 no2 pp 26-31
Brown, Archie “Comparative Politics: A View from Britain” APSA-CP Newsletter of the American Political Science Association Organized Section in Comparative Politics Volume 16, Number 1 (Winter 2005)
Hardin, Russell, et.al. (2002), 'Wither political science'
Monroe, Kristen Renwick. 2002. ‘Shaking Things Up? Thoughts about the future of political science’, PS Political Science and Politics 35 (2)
Selections by Elinor Ostrom and Suzanne Hoeber Rudolph
Schmitter, Philippe (1993) “Comparative Politics,” pp. 171-77, in Joel Krieger (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).
Mair, Peter (1996)“Comparative Politics: An Overview,” pp. 309-35, in Robert Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (eds.), The New Handbook of Political Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
Laitin, David D.(2002), "Comparative Politics: The State of the Subdisicipline," pp. 630-659 in Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner (eds.), Political Science: State of the Discipline (New York: W.W. Norton & Washington, DC: American Political Science Association,)
King, Desmond (1998) “The Politics of Social Research: Institutionalizing Public Funding Regimes in the US and Britain,” BJPS 28: 415-444.
Mahoney, James and Reuschemeyer, Dietrich.(2003) Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press
Sartori, Giovanni “Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics,” APSR, 64:4:1033-53.
Bates, Robert (1997) "Area studies and the discipline: a useful controversy?" PS: Political Science & Politics, 30 no. 2 (June).
Johnson, Chalmers (1997) "Preconception vs. observation, or the contributions of rational choice theory and area studies to contemporary political science," PS: Political Science & Politics 30, no. 2 (June).
Other useful readings for this week
New Handbook of Political Science (throughout) - esp. Ch 1, 2
King (1991) - On political methodology
Lichbach and Zuckerman (1997) Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure
Carpaso, James (2002), Comparative Politics: Diversity and Coherence
(more)
Sunday 6 September 2009
Drugs
Links to articles etc. about drugs and drugs policy.
Guardian 6/09/09 http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2009/sep/06/war-on-drugs-latin-america
Guardian 6/09/09 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/06/brazil-cardoso-war-drugs-decriminalisation - Former Brazil President Cardoso backs decriminalisation of Cannibis
The Guardian and The Observer had a string of articles over the weekend of the 6th September 2009. An editorial in the Observer implied support for legalisation via a move to harm reduction policies. It denounced the current approach of prevention based on morality. It pointed out the inconsistency of alcohol and tobacco being legal despite being more harmful than marijuana and ecstacy.
New Scientist 14/09/09 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327251.100-legalise-drugs.html (more)
Guardian 6/09/09 http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2009/sep/06/war-on-drugs-latin-america
Guardian 6/09/09 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/06/brazil-cardoso-war-drugs-decriminalisation - Former Brazil President Cardoso backs decriminalisation of Cannibis
The Guardian and The Observer had a string of articles over the weekend of the 6th September 2009. An editorial in the Observer implied support for legalisation via a move to harm reduction policies. It denounced the current approach of prevention based on morality. It pointed out the inconsistency of alcohol and tobacco being legal despite being more harmful than marijuana and ecstacy.
New Scientist 14/09/09 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327251.100-legalise-drugs.html (more)
Saturday 5 September 2009
Friday 4 September 2009
Power generation policy
Links to stories about power generation.
Land Art Generator website discussion (more)
Land Art Generator website discussion (more)
Thursday 3 September 2009
The Clash of Civilisations - Huntingdon
From Wikipedia The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world.
The theory was originally formulated in a 1992 lecture[1] at the American Enterprise Institute, which was then developed in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article titled "The Clash of Civilizations?",[2] in response to Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man. Huntington later expanded his thesis in a 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. . (more)
The theory was originally formulated in a 1992 lecture[1] at the American Enterprise Institute, which was then developed in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article titled "The Clash of Civilizations?",[2] in response to Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man. Huntington later expanded his thesis in a 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. . (more)
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Islamism in the UK
Various links and sources
"PENSION CREDIT
(..)
Amount for claimant and first spouse in polygamous marriage
189.35
198.45
Additional amount for additional spouse
65.30
68.45"
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/newbenefitrates.pdf
(a) The claimant and his first spouse are treated the same as any other married couple, and receive exactly the same rate as such a couple, GBP 189.35 per week.
(b) The additional spouse receives only GBP 65.30. This is significantly less than the GBP 124.05 that a single person is entitled to. Insted, it comprises the difference between the couples rate and the single persons rate.
Accordingly, by recognising that the second woman is in a polygamous marriage, the state saves itself money. It is paying her only GBP 65.30 per week, whereas if she was treated as a single person she would receive GBP 124.05 per week, so the state is saving itself GBP 58.75 per week.
Readers are entitle to agree or disagree on the validity of polygamy, but let us not be confused about who is benefitting. Three people in a polygamous marriage are receiving less pension benefits in aggregate than if they were a married couple + a single person.
Link to "A Swedish Dilemma" article in the weekly standard http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/271dgkju.asp
A Swedish Dilemma - Google Books
(more)
"PENSION CREDIT
(..)
Amount for claimant and first spouse in polygamous marriage
189.35
198.45
Additional amount for additional spouse
65.30
68.45"
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/newbenefitrates.pdf
(a) The claimant and his first spouse are treated the same as any other married couple, and receive exactly the same rate as such a couple, GBP 189.35 per week.
(b) The additional spouse receives only GBP 65.30. This is significantly less than the GBP 124.05 that a single person is entitled to. Insted, it comprises the difference between the couples rate and the single persons rate.
Accordingly, by recognising that the second woman is in a polygamous marriage, the state saves itself money. It is paying her only GBP 65.30 per week, whereas if she was treated as a single person she would receive GBP 124.05 per week, so the state is saving itself GBP 58.75 per week.
Readers are entitle to agree or disagree on the validity of polygamy, but let us not be confused about who is benefitting. Three people in a polygamous marriage are receiving less pension benefits in aggregate than if they were a married couple + a single person.
Link to "A Swedish Dilemma" article in the weekly standard http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/271dgkju.asp
A Swedish Dilemma - Google Books
(more)
Reflections on the revolution in Europe: immigration, islam and the west
Link to Economist.com review http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14302290&source=most_commented.
. (more)
. (more)
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